A conversation with my mom ...

Grandma Karin: Stacy, Laura said you should take Lucy to the Children's Theater, there is a play there about a moose. Well, not a moose, maybe it's about a mouse. Yeah a mouse with a hand, or an ear. The mouse goes into a house and takes over.

Me: (after looking at the website) Do you mean: If you Give a Mouse a Cookie?

Grandma Karin: Yes, that's it.

Monday

Well, it's not exactly better today. Work has been dramatic and it's hard to fathom what some families must endure in one lifetime. I feel a little guilty about complaining about a cluttered house, laundry and a low-grade fever, I guess it's all about perspective.

Whine ... wine ... Whine

There are those days when nothing is quite right ...

1. It's still very much winter and the week ahead doesn't seem springy enough.
2. The house is cluttered and feels "unpeacefull"
3. The kid is running a low fever and isn't quite "right" ... again ... sigh
4. I just want to be able to relax but there's so much to do
5. The weekend goes so damn fast and Monday sucks so much
6. The laundry doesn't carry itself up the stairs and the bed doesn't make itself
7. A bath or shower is just too much work right now
8. The sun isn't very sunny.
9. The tax money is paying for not fun things like: Certificates of citizenships, passports, daycare and student loans.


Yeah I guess it's definately spring fever. I just need winter to be over. I need Lucy to be healthy. I need to go for a hike in non snowy woods.

Thanks for the venting opportunity.

This morning ...

Got her up and out the door by letting her wear her new dress (with some winter amendments). She loves wearing dresses.

Tuesdays with Morgan

I have the Mo Mo most every Tuesday night. It's fun having two kids once in a while. He's growing really fast. You'll see by the photo's that this little 17 month old is about the same size as my 2 1/2 year old!

Weekend with the girls ...

I am not sure if you all have noticed but Lucy is a little girl with many many little dude friends! Normally it's all boys all the time. This weekend we had a little change of pace. Friday night we had dinner with Annette and her daughter Genevieve (2yrs old) and Michelle, who is waiting to bring home her two year old daughter from China. I met Annette and Michelle over two years ago in a waiting family (single mom) support group at our agency ... we were all waiting at that time. Lucy and Genevieve played very well together and Lucy kept her wits about her, there was no hitting or pushing and the evening was peaceful and calm. Soon after we arrived home Sherry and her 7 year old daughter Hana came to spend the night. I met Sherry and her family forever ago when we just had referral photos in hand. I was able to travel a couple weeks before Sherry's family, in 2005 they were bringing home 22 month old Masresha. Sherry and Rick now have three beautiful daughters. As much as I love Massie and Harper it was really nice to have some time to get to know their newest daughter Hana. She's just a joy and I am so blessed to know her! Lucy LOVED having a "big sister" for awhile. The girls played so nicely together and I think Hana inspired Lucy to take interest in some of the toys in the house. Sherry and I had time to relax and talk, it was just a great way to spend the evening/morning.

Lucy really had a perfect day today. She was fun to be around, cooperative, funny, sane! I love days like today. OH and to top it off it wasn't freezing cold, the sun was out and snow was slowly melting.

A Strong Will is Good ... A Strong Will is Good

My new mantra. I wanted a daughter with a strong will. I wanted a kid who wouldn't be too passive. I sure as shoot got what I wanted (carefull what you wish for mommas). I try to reframe the frustrations but somehow it's a lot easier to do it (reframe) when I am sitting here at the computer and Lucy is at daycare. She is one powerful two-year-old. At this age/stage she certainly doesn't always use her power for good. My beautiful girl often enters a room swinging. OH woe to the other children who happen to be walking toward anything she perceives to be hers (the swimming pool, the mall ...). It's not all fun. I find myself so frustrated so many times a day. I am afraid. I fear that my rational thoughts (its just a stage, it's just a stage) will be wrong and my irrational fears (she's evil) will turn out to be true.

It's not easy when even positive encouragement (oh Lucy I loved how you shared your mall, or Lucy good job keeping your hands to yourself) often serves only to remind her that she could be hitting or screaming.

OH the hard side of parenting.

It will get better right????

Sundays

We are almost back to normal in our house. This morning we went swimming!!!! Lucy LOVES swim class, and it really wears her out. Between swimming and post sick tiredness the girl took a three hour nap. I loves me some three hour naps! She woke up spunky and sassy as ever. I've been trying to stay in as much as possible to give her time to recover before bombardng her with more viruses but she gets bored and bored=naughty. Tomorrow we are going to have to exit the house at some point before we drive each other nutters. Tonight Lucy got caught up watching the Obama video. Yes We Can ... Yes We Can ...

OH and come March, Sundays will be even sweeter! Lucy gets swim class but I don't have to get in the water with her!!! She's graduated to the bigger kids class, just the kids and the teacher. YES YES YES!!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

All's clear

Lucy and I are alive and well. It was a long and scary week. Lucy's last fever was Thursday morning. My parents took her to spend the night at their place on Friday and I had a wonderfully relaxing evening. I went out for Thai food ... and savored every bite. Lucy had fun at grandma and grandpa's house. I am so thankful that she is feeling better and things can get back to normal around here. I think normal means that my spirited child will be back full-force and my snuggly feverish one is back in hiding. Thank you everyone for your kind words and your amazing support.

Cathy I hope you are feeling better, I've been thinking about you a lot.

Breathing

One thing that has surprised me about being a parent is how many times since Lucy came home that I've feared she would be unable to breathe. I thought this was a phenomenon associated with newborns. Last night in the middle of the night, her gasping and squeaking stopped. I shot up in my bed. I rushed to her room to find her breathing somewhat normally, in out, in out, in out. I smiled.

Her last fever was yesterday morning. She is still very congested. Her face is swollen with congestion but the fever is gone.

OH and I love that I can dress her warm again.

Nothing New

Just reporting that Lucy is still ill. Went back to ped. today, had xrays that showed her lungs are good, at least that much is working. There was no determination of why after all these days she still has this high high fever. Her tonsils are swollen and touching each other, but what's ailing her is apparently a virus and with her adenoid and tonsil tissue issues it makes it hard for her to get rid of viruses and bacteria. So she went through another day of fevers and chills. It's to the point where a temp of 101 is something to be celebrated. This really sucks. Lucy is mostly being really a good sport and so so sweet. What an amazing girl she is to keep her silly spirit through all of this discomfort. OH and when I asked "How many days of fever like this is too much for her?" she said "We get really worried at 14". WTF? 14 days of this???? Well we're almost half way there ... I still have hope that she'll wake up in better health tomorrow.

What's up?

Lucy's fever. I had such high hopes this morning. I checked on her at 1 a.m and no fever. She woke up at 7:30 am with no fever ... so it had been about 12 straight no fever hours. Lucy was thrilled that I let her take a warm bath. I was excited to get layers of caked snot off her cute little face. We were happy. Around 10:30 she asked for a movie and sat on the sofa. I was suspicious. She was still sitting there 10 minutes later and I knew to get out the thermometer. Her fever was coming back. I got some ibuprofen in her and watched ... it held steady, not scary high but not real normal either. Post-nap we had the shakes and shivers and the near 104 temp AGAIN. Got the fever under control and left my kid with my mom as I had a babysitting job and really needed to get out of the house. My mom was to call me if her fever went up ... I had the folks I was babysitting for "on call" and was ready to head back need be. Her fever stayed down and my mom gave her more motrin around bedtime. So another night of waking up when the meds wear off to make sure she's not a furnace. Please let this be the last night. She goes to the doctor tomorrow morning.

so the fever has done weird things to here ... The cat's name went from Bailey's to Eric ... she has reported seeing eeeewwwwwwweee butterflies "up there" and this afternoon I asked her what was on the ceiling and she said "my school momma".

Random photos from past-times.

BRING ON SPRING

That's it!

I need a village of people blowing away Lucy's fever. This last rise has got to be the last one. Lucy (who was taking these past three days better then I was) is all done being sick. She's figity and uncomfortable. She is hot inside and cold outside, she doesn't understand why I won't bundle her in a blankie. She doesn't want the water I make her drink. I was devastated when that thermometer started rising again tonight. She takes motrin, it takes an hour to work and about an hour before she can have more her fever starts hitting the ceiling. We got to 104.3 today ... I NEVER want to see that again. Another thing we could loose is the cold howling wind ... we'd like to see temps above zero please. Hotter outside and cooler in Lucy's body.

Pneumonia ... i disown ya

My kid has pneumonia. She charmed the socks off the ER doctor, he looked hard-core at first but after a couple minutes with the Lucita he softened right up. Poor kid and again we face the antiobiotic monster (we didn't last very long on our anti-antibiotic trial run). Ahhhh well, here's to hoping that she gets better soon with the magic pink medicine.

Sick Sucks

Lucy has been such a trooper. She is crazy sick. Literally, I think she might be seeing things, like gross butterflies on the ceiling. She started calling the cat Eric. Her fever has been getting really high in between doses of motrin. I am tired of being a nurse and being so very worried and anxious. I am thankful that my daughter is just so good, she is good about taking medicine, she has kept in pretty good spirits and the snuggling has been stellar. Still, I hope that tonight is the night of healing for her. Please let her wake up fever free.

Deja fooey

My poor kid is sick again. She seemed a little off during the week and Thursday night started running a temp and was up coughing all night. Friday morning, sure enough, high fever and wheezing. Pediatrician is keeping an eye on her and put her back on the nebs. Tonight her fever went up to 103.4 and I couldn't get it down, took forever. The one night I was encouraging her to go naked and she wanted to be under wraps. I hope for a peaceful night of sleep so her body can heal.

Lucy, Isaac, Nathan and ???

Last night with the boys was fairly fight free. Aunt Jen had to step in once and save Lucy and Isaac from each other while I steered Nathan away from a loud meltdown but generally speaking the little people got along well. This is good progress because ... and it's not really my announcement to make BUT I can't stop myself. The terrific duo will soon become the terrific trio which means that soon when I blog about the boys ... I'll be blogging about 3 boys! Lucy is probably starting to back down on her aggression because she knows that she'll be terribly outnumbered soon. Isaac and Nathan have a baby brother waiting for them in S. Korea. Like all the babes in their family little bro should come home in the lovely spring. Lets all wish them speedy processing with the folks at Homeland Security (yeah right) and a smooth transition. OH and a name for the boy already.

Don't you all think Lucy needs a sister to even out the boy/girl ratio in our babysitting evenings????

"Oh my God Momma"

A quote from Lucy upon observing me change Morgan's diaper.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Michelle got her referral. What a wait! Over two years she waited for a referral and guess what? Her new daughter is a little over two years old! Lucy has a new girl playmate. Michelle, we are so happy for you.
Click HERE for a link to her blog with photos of the beautiful little girl.
Love Stacy and Lucy

Weekends

Oh how I love weekends and this weekend was a real treat. We did our normal Friday night at the Children's Museum which was super fun because Lucy was in a very sharing mood, she was really so sweet to the other kids. Saturday we spent a good portion of the day babysitting our two favorite peeps, Isaac and Nathan. We had a morning shift at their house and an evening shift at our house. The kids seem to be figuring out how to be together (the boys seem to be getting how to manage Lucy's two-year-old behaviors). This morning we had swimming (Lucy's favorite) and then we spent the afternoon at an Ethiopian event in St. Paul. Lucy also got to ride a pony (she was in heaven) that she noticed on our way to the Landmark Center. We pack a lot of fun together activities during our weekends.

Dear Lucille,

Just because I put up a cleverly disguised blog post regarding something you are doing that is really helpful to me doesn't mean you have to pull the old "blog about it one day and you're screwed the next day" trick. I love you a lot you're just not as much fun before my first cup of coffee. Oh and my alarm clock broke too, but I guess I don't need it anymore.

Love,
Mom

Fingers Crossed

Let's all keep our fingers crossed for my friend Michelle. She has been officially waiting for a referral from China for over two years. She has been in the adoption process for even longer then that. Her sources tell her that she should hear something Friday or Monday ... Fingers crossed ... Fingers crossed ... come on Malia!

A song from Queen Lucy

so she's a little bit sassy but musically gifted although her lack of concentration makes our alphabet really really long!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com